Memory #5: Superhero Tryouts
Mar. 3rd, 2013 02:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunny_earsMemory: Superhero Tryouts
Earned: Day 226 (Seekers and Champions Guessing Game)
Form: A yellow feather. Stick behind your ear to receive a memory (3/3 uses).
So, this is Joy's earliest memory yet, of how she formally joined 'The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division'. By a reality TV show: the Super Patriots Inc. want to make people think powers are more common than they are, so they stage a contest in the form of a reality television show. There are only four actual super-powered kids; the other 'contestants' are C-list child actors who Velma almost recognizes.
Velma was given the name 'Velveteen' because 'she brings toys to life with love', and also because Marketing thinks 'Bride of Chucky' and 'Puppeteer' are creepy names that didn't go over well in focus groups. She was also given a 'homemade' costume that was a brown leotard with Halloween-costume bunny ears and a tail, and generally told to act like she made the identity up herself. (It's worth noting that she doesn't feel like the kind of girl who would put bunny ears on and call herself after the Velveteen Rabbit.) She also sees her other teammates in their 'homemade' costumes.
So, it's the normal parade of reality TV: Vel was given challenges and told to complete them. Most of the ringers had special-effects powers that would fail at dramatic times. Vel was pretty convinced it was fixed by the time she made it to semi-finals and was getting sick of the whole situation. She's partnered with Yelena and they're supposed to pass an electric field by working together, since Yelena can fly and Vel can't. By this time, the only people Vel isn't sick of are her (future) teammates, so she goes all out. She wants to be a superhero for them, so they can all be friends and happy and stuff. So she animates the giant statues instead of what she's supposed to be doing.
So, she gets in and gets a slightly better costume -- in that it has a utility belt and boots. Yelena's about ready to throw up and David/The Claw is generally annoyed that his costume lacks pants. All of them kind of quietly freak out over being in public as superheros, and Joy gets her first hint of her childhood crush on Aaron/Action Dude.
Then, after the marketing blitz, they get lead off to their new rooms... which are seemingly designed to be as sterile as possible, which Marketing tells them they can decorate once they start earning money. Aaron is already taking his role as 'the one who can talk to grownups best', because Yelena is still skittish around adults, Vel has anger issues, and David is generally morose. More and more Vel gets the sense that she's abandoned her civilian life: that she is Velveteen now and didn't get a choice in that. Which seems okay when it means being part of her team, but not so much now when she gets stuck in a sterile-looking white dorm room by corporate HQ.
David comments that he thought they fought supervillains, not worked for them. Yelena starts crying, and Vel promises that everything will be okay: they will make so much money that Yelena will be able to buy a palace if she wants.
What Joy Learned
First off, Joy is getting the increasing sense that her childhood was dysfunctional. This is the second time she remembers being put on show for the public to gawk at. She's without her parents and doesn't know why -- the lady from Marketing mentioned her parents had to sign all kinds of forms for her to be here, and there's still the 'benefit of the doubt' that it is for her own good to be around other supers for training. But Joy gets the sense that something is wrong, given how timid Yelena is around authority and David/Claw's general depression and cynicism (though the previous memory told her that he wanted to cure his lobster-ness, which explains things). Basically she and Aaron/Action Dude are kind of taking the role as the protectors: Aaron because he can talk to grownups while seeing mature and understanding and Vel because she's protective of her friends and has been craving them.
Joy also solves the mystery of bunny costume + anima powers + Velveteen -- she was named after the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, a children's book about a toy bunny that wished to be a real rabbit. And that most of her routine was devoted to creating an image of Velveteen that... wasn't actually what Joy was like as a kid. She can assume that her friends' identities were similarly crafted: Yelena didn't choose to be Sparkle Bright. It also means she doesn't expect to learn her real name in any childhood memory, and makes her wonder how attached to it she was.
Also, her powers are pretty strong, apply to many human/humanoid things, and she tended to keep them under wraps. Except when she got annoyed.
Effects
Unlock: The Velveteen Rabbit story
+ Protectiveness towards team and children. (It is probably for the best that Vel hasn't encountered Intempas, considering Sieh mentioned his family history.)
- Bullshit stage events and rigged competitions. This could affect her in the games, but at least Joy generally assumes the games are fair. Also, she's less likely to lose patience if her team is there and want to win.
+ Likelihood to lose her temper and kick ass (metaphorically or literally).
Earned: Day 226 (Seekers and Champions Guessing Game)
Form: A yellow feather. Stick behind your ear to receive a memory (3/3 uses).
"NEXT UP," boomed the announcer, his amplified words almost drowned out by the roar of the enthusiastic crowd, "WE HAVE OUR NEWEST POTENTIAL HEROINES -- VELVETEEN AND SPARKLE BRIGHT!" The massive video screens cut to their 'audition shots' as their brand-new superhero names were called, showing Velma directing a tea party where all the toys were active participants, and Yelena skipping rope with a rainbow. So cuddly-cute and perfectly predictable that it still made Velma want to gag. Although not as much as the thought of crossing that electric field.
But Yelena was counting on her. And Aaron was already on the other side with David. They were waiting. They'd be waiting until Velma got up the nerve to join them.
She hated the men and women from Marketing, with their whispers of positive image and toy lines. She hated The Super Patriots, Inc. She hated her parents. But she didn't hate the people who wanted to be her teammates, who just wanted her to stand up and join them. She could be a superheroine, if that was what they wanted from her. She could learn to be Velveteen, instead of Velma. Who knew? Maybe people would like Velveteen better. Maybe hiding behind a mask was exactly what she needed.
-- Velveteen vs. the Flashback Sequence
So, this is Joy's earliest memory yet, of how she formally joined 'The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division'. By a reality TV show: the Super Patriots Inc. want to make people think powers are more common than they are, so they stage a contest in the form of a reality television show. There are only four actual super-powered kids; the other 'contestants' are C-list child actors who Velma almost recognizes.
Velma was given the name 'Velveteen' because 'she brings toys to life with love', and also because Marketing thinks 'Bride of Chucky' and 'Puppeteer' are creepy names that didn't go over well in focus groups. She was also given a 'homemade' costume that was a brown leotard with Halloween-costume bunny ears and a tail, and generally told to act like she made the identity up herself. (It's worth noting that she doesn't feel like the kind of girl who would put bunny ears on and call herself after the Velveteen Rabbit.) She also sees her other teammates in their 'homemade' costumes.
So, it's the normal parade of reality TV: Vel was given challenges and told to complete them. Most of the ringers had special-effects powers that would fail at dramatic times. Vel was pretty convinced it was fixed by the time she made it to semi-finals and was getting sick of the whole situation. She's partnered with Yelena and they're supposed to pass an electric field by working together, since Yelena can fly and Vel can't. By this time, the only people Vel isn't sick of are her (future) teammates, so she goes all out. She wants to be a superhero for them, so they can all be friends and happy and stuff. So she animates the giant statues instead of what she's supposed to be doing.
So, she gets in and gets a slightly better costume -- in that it has a utility belt and boots. Yelena's about ready to throw up and David/The Claw is generally annoyed that his costume lacks pants. All of them kind of quietly freak out over being in public as superheros, and Joy gets her first hint of her childhood crush on Aaron/Action Dude.
Then, after the marketing blitz, they get lead off to their new rooms... which are seemingly designed to be as sterile as possible, which Marketing tells them they can decorate once they start earning money. Aaron is already taking his role as 'the one who can talk to grownups best', because Yelena is still skittish around adults, Vel has anger issues, and David is generally morose. More and more Vel gets the sense that she's abandoned her civilian life: that she is Velveteen now and didn't get a choice in that. Which seems okay when it means being part of her team, but not so much now when she gets stuck in a sterile-looking white dorm room by corporate HQ.
David comments that he thought they fought supervillains, not worked for them. Yelena starts crying, and Vel promises that everything will be okay: they will make so much money that Yelena will be able to buy a palace if she wants.
What Joy Learned
First off, Joy is getting the increasing sense that her childhood was dysfunctional. This is the second time she remembers being put on show for the public to gawk at. She's without her parents and doesn't know why -- the lady from Marketing mentioned her parents had to sign all kinds of forms for her to be here, and there's still the 'benefit of the doubt' that it is for her own good to be around other supers for training. But Joy gets the sense that something is wrong, given how timid Yelena is around authority and David/Claw's general depression and cynicism (though the previous memory told her that he wanted to cure his lobster-ness, which explains things). Basically she and Aaron/Action Dude are kind of taking the role as the protectors: Aaron because he can talk to grownups while seeing mature and understanding and Vel because she's protective of her friends and has been craving them.
Joy also solves the mystery of bunny costume + anima powers + Velveteen -- she was named after the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, a children's book about a toy bunny that wished to be a real rabbit. And that most of her routine was devoted to creating an image of Velveteen that... wasn't actually what Joy was like as a kid. She can assume that her friends' identities were similarly crafted: Yelena didn't choose to be Sparkle Bright. It also means she doesn't expect to learn her real name in any childhood memory, and makes her wonder how attached to it she was.
Also, her powers are pretty strong, apply to many human/humanoid things, and she tended to keep them under wraps. Except when she got annoyed.
Effects
Unlock: The Velveteen Rabbit story
+ Protectiveness towards team and children. (It is probably for the best that Vel hasn't encountered Intempas, considering Sieh mentioned his family history.)
- Bullshit stage events and rigged competitions. This could affect her in the games, but at least Joy generally assumes the games are fair. Also, she's less likely to lose patience if her team is there and want to win.
+ Likelihood to lose her temper and kick ass (metaphorically or literally).